Taliban Kills Third Police Chief from Same District in Ghazni

Mira Jan Jafari, the police chief of Jaghatu district of central Ghazni province, was killed in a roadside bomb blast early Thursday, local officials said.

Provincial governor spokesman, Mohammad Arif Noori confirmed the incident, adding that one of his bodyguards was also injured in the blast.

This is the third police chief being killed in the district during the last two months.

Last Thursday, the district former police chief, Mohammad Ishaq Jalili along with one of his bodyguards were also killed when their vehicle hit a roadside mine.

On August, Jalili’s predecessor, was killed along with one bodyguard after their car was ambushed by Taliban militants in Torgan area of the province.

The Taliban insurgents claimed responsibility for the first and second assassinations, but the group has not made a comment about the third blast yet.

Ghazni is among the volatile provinces in central-east part of the country where Taliban controls five of its 18 districts (Nawa, Khogyani, Rasheedan, Waghaz and Zana Khan) and have a presence in more of nine other districts.